Metro 50 Game 1 v Warwickshire at Taunton

By Grockle
August 4 2023

Welcome to Somerset debutants Danny Lamb (pic) and Curtis Campher for the 50 over games and congratulations to Shoaib Bashir making his List A debut today among our first 50 side of the year. Injuries affect the side along with the franchise 'drain' but we are hoping for a strong start to the campaign if the weather lets it happen. It's a bit grey and gloomy but still dry so we expect to get going on time.

Metro Bank 50 v Warwickshire @ Taunton Friday August 4 2023

Sean Dickson leads out his first 50 over side against the people from Birmingham. Josh Davey, Aflie Ogborne and Kasey Aldridge are all unavailable but we only have one List A debutant today as opposed to the 7 we put out in 2021!!

The side is

George Thomas, Andy Umeed, Lewis Goldsworthy, James Rew, George Bartlett, Curtis Campher, Danny Lamb, Ned Leonard, Jack Brooks, Shoaib Bashir.

We welcome our new boys in Ireland's Curtis Campher - with us for the first 5 games and already the owner of a 50 over century for the county against Cornwall last week. The other 'newbie' is Danny Lamb who is on loan to us from Lancashire via a spell with Gloucestershire. Josh Thomas is the 12th man and the new guys are in partly because we will probably lose him and JT Langridge to the England U19 squad during the tournament.

Warwickshire won the toss and will bowl first in cloud cover which has at least moved up a little and is a bit more white than it was earlier in the day. There is a bit of sun in it as well and at least it has stayed dry for the start - we shall have to see how the weather treats us on Cider Festival Friday.

Ed Barnard starts proceedings from the MT End to George Thomas who is the 'axe handle' of the front two while Umeed is expected to act as the glue of the innings. George leaves the first, is lucky not to play on with the second and guides the 3rd to Yates in the slips and is out for 0. Somerset are 0 for 1 and Lewis Goldsworthy finds himself at the crease only 3 balls into the game. Not the most auspicious of starts.

Andy Umeed starts his account with a confident boundary and Hannon-Dalby takes the River End second with Somerset on 5 for 1. Lewis takes a single to get himself off the mark and we finish the second over with 6. Lewis then 'Chinese cuts' a four to the CA Pavilion very close to his leg stump!! We have 12 after 3. But that is the end of Umeed's batting day as he is caught by Brooks in the slips without adding to his 4 and Somerset face half the 4th over at 12 for 2 with James Rew coming to the crease.

It isn't looking easy as we move to 16 at the end of the 5th with the Warwickshire opening bowlers having the best of the first encounters this afternoon. Neither bat seems to be able to get the ball through the infield though Goldsworthy gets another boundary from another inside edge. However the next ball he does get over the inner ring to the car park rope. 24 for 2 after 6. After some difficulty facing Hannon-Dalby, our keeper finally falls to the Warwickshire man bowled for 2. 24 for 3. Dickson comes out and immediately sends the ball to the Somerset Stand for four.

This is Lewis' first innings for the first team this season. He may need a bit of time but he is at least looking more solid than a number of his team-mates have been this season in other competitions. We have missed him because of injury - got to hope he is back to something like his best. 10 overs in and its 38 for 3.

Garrett comes on at the MT for the 11th and Sean leaves one that misses by a gnats gonad!! It gets closer every time it is replayed!! Scoring is not easy. We have only reached 45 by the start of the 14th with Dickson becalmed on 12 off 16 and Goldsworthy on 24 off 40. This 50 over stuff is different isn't it? We may be looking to Campher to accelerate to the next speed as we stagger to 50 in the 15th with an infrequent Lewis boundary off the first over from Miles at the River.

Unfortunately, while Goldsworthy is looking decent, Sean is caught by Burgess off a Garrett delivery that cramps him for room for a score of 15 at 64 in the 17th over. In comes George Bartlett he immediately straight drives Garrett for an initial 4 to the MT. The concensus in the Press Box is that we will not be beating our best against Warwickshire of 339 for 9 in a 60 over game in 1995 - in a game we lost!!

Rhodes comes on from the MT for the 21st with the total moving to 82 and LG 3 runs from a 50. He doesn't get there by the end of it and Miles makes the next over hard for him. Scoring is not easy by any means in the face of some good opposition bowling. Rhodes keeps the pressure on and Warks bring Lintott (the Academy boy) on at the River for the 24th. Lewis finally gets to 50 off 72 balls (8 fours) at 93 in the 25th over - welcome back Lewis Jr.

Halfway and we are 1 run short of a ton. Not all that promising but there is another half to come for the 3 and a half thousand in the stands - not a bad crowd for a grey Friday. After the drinks break, George sends the single to get us to 3 figures off the Watchet boy. George goes for one in the 28th and it doesn't go where he would have liked it to. Luckily it was as much a surprise to Shaikh, the fielder on the Gimblett boundary, who was sent the wrong way and dropped the Somerset man on 24 at 111.

Barnard returns at the MT for the 29th and Bartlett and Goldsworthy reach a 50 partnership (from 73 balls) in his over at 114. At 30 overs it is 123 for 4 - and we start to wonder what kind of score we could be expecting. It has been the calculation in the past that sides double their score in the last 20... so 250 ish? Most seem to think this will 'probably' not be enough.

Hannon-Dalby is also tried at the MT for the 33rd. George brings up the 150 with the first six of the innings in the 34th from Lintott to take himself to 49 and we finish it at 152. He goes to 50 off Hannon-Dalby's first of the 35th (66 balls 4 fours and 1 six). A llittle later though Lewis slog sweeps to the Somerset but gets a little on top of it and is caught by Smith off Lintott for 78 at 160. A good innings - the kind we have missed from him this season in more than 1 format.

In comes Curtis Campher who has a reputation for not waiting about for the ball - we could do with some of that without losing a wicket while trying to push on. He is off the mark with a single. But he doesn't stay long as he smashes one back to Lintott who keeps hold of a very sharp hit. Good C&B but Somerset are now 168 for 5. Next man in is Danny Lamb and we now have to be aware of using up the overs with 13 to go. Miles returns from the MT for the 39th and the new boy gets off the mark with a single of his fourth ball, meanwhile George goes on to 60 and we pass 172 by the end of it. With 10 overs to go it is 181 for 6 with George on 66 and Danny on 5. behind him

Miles starts the last 10 and George deposits him into the Ondaatje ball 4. Unfortunately he tries it again the next ball and simply pulls it to Hannon-Dalby behind him for 74 at 192/7. Not what we wanted to be honest though he had played well up to that point. Now we are into the tail with Ned Leonard with his new M&H bat. He is off the mark with his first ball but this is a new partnership in a number of ways as neither of these two will have played with each other at all. He drives a boundary and looks good doing it before walking past the next one and being stumped off Lintott at 197. Jack Brooks arrives with the need to see this innings through the 8.4 overs remaining. He cuts into the deep to get a single to get him off the mark. Lintott finishes with 3 for 43 off his 10 overs. 198 for 8. The 200 arrives from a Lamb four in the 43rd. He punches another to the midwicket boundary later in the same over. Hannon-Dalby returns to the River end for the 44th.

Brooks hits a shot thatt looks to be going past Barnard. It doesn't so Jack walks back but Barnard has thrown the ball in from a kneeling position and taken out the middle stump. The Ferrett is run out for 2. 207 for 9 and in comes Shoaib. He is off the mark from his first ball. Meanwhile Danny flaps the ball over the keeper for a flamboyant four. 212 for 9 after 44 and they will face Garrett from the MT for the 45th. He does it same flamboyant shot again at the start of the 46th and succeeds again to go to 24 and take his new side to double 'Nelson'. Hannon-Dalby finishes with expected decent figures of 2 for 39.

Four overs left and Garrett takes the first. Quite a lot of it is very close to wide but Shoaib defends what he thinks is close and hits what he sees as loose. He eventually gets the toe end of tyhe bat to one and is caught behind with 230 on the board after 46.5 overs. Warks need 231 to win and we were short by about 20 overs from the prediction and probably the same again from a par score. 'Not enough' is the assessment from the top of the MT Pavilion.

The Reply

Ned Leonard starts our attack against Yates and Bernard. The Warwickshire men get off the mark with a fourth ball single. 1 for 0 after 1 over. Jack starts from the River and produces a maiden first up but it doesn't last as the third goes for 12. Nevertheless Brooks will not be deterred and only gives away 1 from his second. The score is 22 for 0 after 4 with Ned going for 21 and Jack going for 1. He produces another maiden for his third and is then partnered with Curtis Campher who gives away 9 in his first. Before the end of the 8th Brooks also has the wicket of Yates caught by Rew for 12 at 33 for 1. After 4 the veteran has figures of 3 for 1 with 2 maidens.

Then it goes downhill from there, I go away to talk to the radicals of last year at this time and when I get back it is 107 for 1 with Barnard on 50 and Rhodes on 37. Shoaib has gone for 25 from 2.4 overs and the only good thing is that Lamb has 'only' gone for 10 off 2. So 20 overs into the reply and they need 124 from 30 overs with a cutoff for the last over at 21:05. I would suggest that the people from Birmingham will not need the time or the overs they have in front of them to put this game beyond Somerset.

Curtis changes ends and brings a bit of light as Rhodes is caught by George Bartlett with a score of 38 at 'Nelson' . Things are looking up... but not quick enough. He then gets Burgess for 3 at 126 and is pushing this along. This promotes Lewis to go for it as well and he has Brookes caught by Bashir for 1 and it all looks hopeful. Campher is working really hard and nearly has Shaikh before he scores. Goldsworthy is also pushing for wickets as Warwickshire move into the 130s and Barnard is moving into the 60s. If we got him then it would become a little 'interesting'.

With 20 overs left the visitors need 90 at 143 for 4. So 90 off 120 balls - should be moderately easy. For the 32nd Somerset re-introduce Ned Leonard from the River End. Another Lewis Goldsworthy over comes next and the first six of the innings takes the Brummies to 150 and they continue to 158 by the end of the over. Unless they get rid of Barnard, this game is done presently. Brooks is re-introduced to try and make something change for the 38th (He has only gone for 16 of his previous 7 overs). Unfortunately a six at the end of the over moves Warwickshire towards 200, Barnard into the 90s with his partner near to 40.

Curtis comes back on and breaks through again before his over is finished as Shaikh holes out to Brooks for 38. Campher finishes with 3 for 47. Kai Smith is the replacement bat at 198 for 5 . With 11 overs to go Warwickshire need 33 and Somerset need 5 wickets. Ed Barnard needs 9 runs for his hundred. But he doesn't get there as Brooksy gets him caught behind at 94 in the 40th just after bringing up the 200. 202 for 6 with Jake Lintott coming to the crease.

With 10 overs left it is 29 runs or 4 wickets with Lewis coming on to bowl from the MT. He seems to have Smith absolutely dead LBW but the umpire is unimpressed and the usual then happens as the next ball is hit straight for four. 211 for 6 with 9 overs left and 20 needed. Brooks is bowling out at the River. He finishes with 2 for 33 with 2 maidens. A very decent spell given the game as a whole. 217 for 6 - 14 needed. Lamb bowls the next having only gone for 14 off his last 3 but this game has gone to be honest and it's all about pride really.

6 to win with 7 overs to go. Ned comes back from the River for the 44th, his second delivery goes for four and so does the fourth. Warwickshire win by four wickets in a game when we never had enough runs to make a real contest of this. Some good performances. Decent bowling from Jack and Curtis. Good batting from Lewis and George with a little spell at the end from Danny. Good to see Lewis back in all parts of the game after an injury hit season. Twas not to be tonight but there is some light in the darkness.

Other good news is that Farmer White was back in the writing chair and penned a view of this game - I haven't extended this one but you can catch his at THIS LINK

Metro 50 Game 1 v Warwickshire at Taunton

Posted by: Grockles.com (IP Logged)

Date: 04/08/2023 13:55

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:08:06:10:27:13 by Grockle.

Metro 50 v Warwickshire H

Posted by: Grockle (IP Logged)

Date: 03/08/2023 14:16

Cider & Beer Festival Friday starting at 2pm... what could possibly go wrong? 🤣

The side will come from this squad

Sean Dickson, Andy Umeed, George Thomas, Lewis Goldsworthy, James Rew, Curtis Campher, George Bartlett, Danny Lamb, Josh Thomas, Ned Leonard, Jack Brooks, Shoaib Bashir and JT Langridge.

Dickson, Bartlett, Thomas G, Rew, Campher, Lamb, Brooks WILL play.

Umeed should open but did not do too well in the Devon/Cornwall games so who knows

Goldsworthy should also play but again has not shown form... is he still unfit?

Will Bashir or Josh Thomas be preferred they won't go with both so batting or experience?

Leonard or Langridge or both?

Well done to Josh & JT for getting into England U19s

Worry about the absence of Josh Davey at the start of this campaign. Gonna struggle in September if he isn't playing in these games. Warwickshire are weakened by franchise losses but it'll be a real test tomorrow.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:08:04:12:45:39 by Grockle.